Final Fantasy XIII 1. Vacation

**I found this lurking in the depths of my "fanfic" folder...**

**With what time I had left from finishing my essay, I decided to edit this little rascal and make a new story. Hope it gets interesting enough for you...**(ahem. Expect slow updates).

**Warnings**: **Language.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII.**

* * *

Lightning was never one for a vacation. One of her main principles in life was that working hard...got you somewhere. And she did. Her sole purpose of working as a soldier in order to protect her sister had diminished in terms of grit ever since Cocoon's fall, but she never failed in keeping her assiduous temperament when it came to her job. Sure, she knew that Serah was now in good hands—at least, most of the time—by her new husband, but that didn't mean the soldier would start slacking off at her job.

And it certainly didn't mean that she would start taking breaks any time soon.

Lightning crossed her arms and let out a small huff as she leaned back in her seat, listening to Snow laugh with Gadot and the rest of NORA as the whole gang sat cramped in the moving car. Snow worked at the steering wheel as Serah sat next to him, cracking a smile whenever he made a joke; something that he'd done more times than Lightning could bother to count. She normally didn't mind too much, but the gradually increasing heat inside the automobile along with loud noises emitting from the rowdy pack around her had put a heavy damper on her mood. She found herself biting her tongue as Yuj let out a loud hoot—she had a string of rather colorful words dwelling in her mouth that she could have let out at the moment, and it took all her might to not let them accidentally _slip_ from her lips. And in the midst of all the noise, there was the heat, bringing an unintended urge to dive out of the car in the middle of the road.

* * *

"Come on, sis. You've been working nonstop ever since Serah and I got married," Snow had said, pointing behind his shoulder to his rather petite wife, who had given Lightning a small, apologetic smile.

"That's six months," Lightning said, crossing her arms. "I don't need a vacation. We've got mandatory training coming up, not to mention new recruits that we need to interview—"

"Oh, please. You're gonna love it. We're taking a trip to an island off the east of Palumpolum, and there's going to be plenty of sun, water, and not to mention fun." Snow grinned.

"I don't see how that's any different from New Bodhum," Lightning huffed. "In case you've forgotten, we live right next to a beach. Why would I bother wasting my time traveling to an island when—"

"Do you see now? That's your problem," Snow said, clearly exasperated at his sister-in-law's oblivious behavior. "You've spent too much time here. Sure, New Bodhum's got a beach, but you need something new, something different. That's why we bought _these_." Snow retrieved something from the back pocket of his jeans and, before she knew it, Lightning had four tickets hovering above her nose and in front of her eyes. She promptly swiped the thin pieces of paper from her brother's clutches and silently skimmed the sheets with her eyes, reading off the tiny text inscribed within the white documents.

Her head snapped up to meet his cheeky grin, her face slightly contorted in horror. "You _bought these_?" she hissed. "Why didn't you ask me first?!"

"Well, y'see…" Snow briefly scrunched his brow in thought, taking a moment to think before he spoke. "Oh! Yeah. Uh, well…Serah and I knew that you'd probably say no even if we asked for your permission to buy you a ticket before we did it. See? You already said no. That's why we bought them! Look. One for Serah, you, me, and—"

"Do you really expect me to actually come along with you guys? And what about my job? I can't just suddenly blow off the Lieutenant like that and tell him, 'Hey, I'm going on a vacation,' and pack my things and leave. Did you even consider thinking about that before you went off and bought these?" Lightning gave a momentarily vague thrust of the hand, referring to the slips of paper held between her fingers granting access to a flight that she'd involuntarily registered for.

Lightning stared at Snow as he started to chortle, barely even trying to be inconspicuous with his laughter in the least. "That's the thing," he let out as he sniggered, mouth stretched out in a smirk. "We already called up the base and let them know that you'd be off for a few days."

"You…what?" Lightning said. She tried to wrap her mind around her thoughts as she stared at Snow in disbelief, quickly snapping her mouth shut as her eyes formed a glare. "How—"

"It wasn't anything big. We just called and asked if it was okay if you could take a short break. Amodar was more than happy to let you—he said it was 'about time' that the little sergeant got some time off. Apparently, you've been working a bit too hard." Snow paused, taking a moment to look over Lightning—she didn't seem too mad, but his words had done nothing in their attempt to reason with her.

"Look, sis. I'm sorry that we didn't let you know first. I really am," Snow said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But honestly, Serah and I thought that you'd be better off taking a rest. You've worked really hard, and we both know that. And you deserve a break," he said, glancing at his wife for support. She practically glided over as she approached her sister, nodding in agreement. "You've worked tirelessly for us ever since…well, ever since mom and dad died," Serah said, biting her lip before going on. "It's not much compared to how much you did for me, and this just one of the many ways that I'm saying thanks," Serah said, adding a small chuckle. "But you deserve a break, Claire. Just please—let us do this for you. It'll only be for a few days." Her eyes were stretched out with the smallest hint of a plea, and Lightning could see the meaning behind Serah's words—she was ever so reluctant, but could feel her stalwart guard slowly start to drop as Serah spoke.

"How long is the trip going to be?" Lightning asked, hesitation tracing her voice. Serah could already see her sister starting to give in, much to her delight, and responded as soon as the question had been asked. "Two days," she chirped. "That's all. Just two days. I know it's pretty short, but considering how many people we brought…" She trailed off, all words leaving her thoughts as she held her breath, watching Lightning linger for a moment. She rested on the thought before finally letting go. Then again, by this point it wasn't like she had much of a choice to say no.

"…Fine," Lightning said, sighing. Serah broke into a grin and hugged her sister, locking her in a tight hug as she was overwhelmed with joy. "I can't wait! I'm so excited," she practically squealed. Lightning returned the embrace somewhat half-heartedly, but blinked as she redirected her attention back to the tickets in Snow's hand—one, two, three, four—wait. Four?

"Why are there four tickets?" Lightning asked.

Serah pulled back from the hug and turned to recount the tickets, smiling again as she turned back to her sister. "Oh, right. You don't know," she said, giggling. "There's three for us—but the last one's for Hope!"

"Hope?" Lightning repeated, not really registering the name until a few moments later. "Oh."

Serah nodded. "Yup. NORA's going to come, too. But they already have their tickets, since Snow gave them out before we told you."

_Of course,_ Lightning thought. Hope had been coming over more and more frequently as the days passed, reason partially being the fact that he was now off of college for summer break. She didn't mind his presence, but found his growing rate almost alarming. He was rapidly transitioning from the small fourteen-year-old boy she once knew into nearly a full adult; every single time that he happened to visit, she could see a vague yet definite, noticeable change in him. The boy—no, man—was growing at an alarming rate. She could have sworn that he'd once grown a full inch within a month, but she couldn't be too sure.

"We decided to invite him over because he's on break. Sazh said he was busy with something, and we thought that it'd be better to invite someone that we all knew, not just a friend that Snow and I talked to," Serah said.

Lightning lingered for a moment, ending with a sigh. "Okay," she said. "When does the trip start?"

"The day after tomorrow," Snow interjected. Lightning raised an eyebrow in question, staring at the tickets. "That early?"

Snow and Serah both nodded, taking a look at the clock on the wall—it was halfway through the afternoon. "You'd better get packing soon, because the flight's going to be pretty early," Snow said.

Lightning nodded reluctantly; she still wasn't all that excited for the little "vacation", but she knew that it was a well-meant offer from her sister and her husband. They didn't mean any harm; but still, how could she find peace in something that she hadn't taken since she was fifteen? Unless a trip taken while the rest of the world was hunting you down for your very life counted as a "vacation", she was pretty sure that she wasn't going to particularly enjoy it.

* * *

Lightning had been stayed seated in the wretched car for the past hour; she could feel a drop of sweat starting to roll down her forehead and promptly flicked it aside with her hand, gritting her teeth in the process. How much longer was the ride going to take? The irritation that was slowly building up from the heat and the invasion of personal space was silently prodding her, practically asking for a reaction from the soldier. And she almost surrendered—until the car came to a stop.

"All right!" Yuj exclaimed, hopping out of the heated automobile. Lightning wondered how he could have possibly survived in the cramped car with the long-sleeved shirt of his—the red t-shirt was accompanied by another, decorated with a subtle yellow gradient layered over the first. It was a wonder how he retained his cheerful temperament in the suffocating heat that Lightning had just experienced a few seconds ago. But then again, she was a bit lacking in the field of patience, so it might have been just her.

"How many rooms do we have?" Gadot asked as he climbed out of the car, followed by Lebreau and Maqui. Subsequent the short blonde's exit, a foot stepped swiftly down onto the smooth pavement and into the sun. Hope looked around, taking a look at the stretched-out series of buildings in front of him. The hotel was almost completely white on the exterior, giving it a clean, pure look. Hope suddenly caught Lightning's eye and shot a small smile, tilting his chin towards the distant palm trees surrounding the building. She nodded and felt her muscles relax a bit; as she looked around, she could feel herself start to calm down from the light wind against her skin. The rather palliative atmosphere practically radiated from the trees around her, letting off a rather sedative-like effect on the soldier.

"Nice, isn't it?" Hope said, walking over next to Lightning. She could feel the cool breeze against her back as the group waited for Snow to finish giving the man at the desk his keys. The uncomfortable heat she'd experienced had now vanished, letting her clear her head for once since the ride. She nodded, looking over at Hope. Maker, he was tall. As they stood side-by-side, she could see that her head now reached somewhere up to his ear. It was certainly a stretch compared to how short he'd been when he was fourteen: five feet tall, was it? She couldn't remember too well.

Lightning's thoughts were abruptly dragged back towards reality as Hope waved a hand in front of her face, calling her name.

"Light? Are you okay?" he eyed her in concern, tilting his head as he did so.

Lightning shook the daze from her head, blinking as she adjusted to the sudden break in her line of thought. "Oh. Yeah, sorry. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You haven't said a word all day, and you look a little…well, tired," Hope said, biting his lip.

"No, I'm fine," Lightning said, waving his suggestion away. "It's just the heat—and I'm not really used to going on…vacations, or whatever."

Hope formed a small, inaudible _oh_ with his mouth and nodded in response. "I can tell…I haven't seen you go anywhere in particular ever since we came to Gran Pulse." He glanced over at the group of people behind him, watching Maqui and Yuj bicker as usual, and as Lebreau helped Gadot unload a suitcase from the back. "It's weird, isn't it? It seems like it was just yesterday that we were running around and beating up monsters. Now it's been around…what, six years?" He looked at Lightning and smiled. "I guess time really does fly as you get older."

Lightning shrugged. "I guess so."

Hope opened his mouth to speak when an unexpected arm threw itself over his neck, making him jump in surprise. Lightning bit back a chuckle at his expression, directing her attention to Snow as he spoke. "Alright, lover boy. You heard Gadot—you're sharing a room with Maqui and me." Hope's head spun around as he spoke. "I'm not _lover boy_," he said. "Lightning's just a friend." Despite his words, she could see an all-too visible blush forming over his cheeks—but to her relief, no one else noticed.

"Right," Snow said, not really paying attention. "Lightning, you should probably head over with the other ladies."

"Huh?" Lightning said, blinking blankly as she looked at Snow. He sighed, pointing over to a building behind them—Lebreau and Serah were already walking along with their luggage in hand, chatting it up as they made their way across the parking lot. How had they gotten there so fast? Apparently, Lightning had been so distracted in the midst of her conversation with Hope that she hadn't noticed her roommates walking to their next destination. Without hesitation, she snatched her bag from Gadot and ran to join them, ignoring Snow's audible laughter behind her as she went.

* * *

"So Lightning," Lebreau said, zipping open her suitcase. The three women were surrounding the two beds lying at the side of the bedroom, unpacking their luggage and folding their clothes to place in their respective dressers. Lightning sat cross-legged on the floor as she organized her materials, barely bothering to look up as she responded. "Yeah?"

"You can probably see that we only have two beds," Lebreau said.

"And?"

"Well, one of us will get a single bed, and two of us will have to share…" Lebreau continued. "You mind sharing, or-?"

"It doesn't matter. I can share with Serah, if you want a bed to yourself."

"What? No. I can share with Lebreau—you should have a bed to yourself, sis," Serah piped up, peeking over the bed as she sat on the floor. "I'm pretty sure you'd like a single bed, wouldn't you?"

Lightning shrugged. She honestly didn't give it much thought—yet although she wouldn't have minded sleeping next to her sister, the thought of taking a night next to Lebreau made her want to cringe. They weren't exactly friends, but they didn't really hate each other, either. It was merely the fact that invasion of personal privacy was something that Lightning was only comfortable with when it came to people she'd known for a long time.

"Then it's settled," Serah declared. "I'll share with Lebreau."

Lebreau nodded, tilting her head to peer at Lightning for a moment. "By the way, what were you talking about with Hope? You guys seemed pretty occupied with yourselves. You didn't even notice that Serah and I were already leaving."

Lightning kept her eyes glued to her clothes as she folded her shorts, placing them in the dresser to her side as she answered the sudden question. "We weren't talking about anything in particular. We were just taking a look at the…view," she said, for lack of a better word.

Lebreau murmured something in skepticism. "Why, is there a problem?" Lightning asked, finally looking up at Lebreau. She simply shook her head, knowing better than to admit what she'd really been thinking. Serah, meanwhile, had finished unpacking her things, and was now flipping through her texts to see a message from Snow. "The guys went out to buy a pair of swimming trunks for Maqui, since he forgot his back at home. Yuj is going to come along, which means they'll probably take a while," Serah said, smiling. "You two should get some rest. The ride was pretty long, so take your time with anything you want before the guys get back."

Lightning nodded, relieved for the break. It was finally quiet, not to mention the fact that there was air conditioning inside the wide hotel room. She would catch up on her energy later—all she wanted right now was to finish organizing her materials and drop onto the soft bed.

And she did exactly that.

* * *

It was a few hours later before she actually woke up from her nap. Though still in a daze, it only took Lightning a moment to realize that there was no real brightness to squint or hide under the covers form—any lamps or other devices that radiated light were turned off, leaving only the gradually darkening sky outside to surround the reflection of the slowly uncovering moon in the distance.

_I overslept…_

However, it seemed as though Lightning wasn't the only one who had taken a long nap. Lebreau was sleeping soundly on her bed, and Serah…where was Serah? Lightning's maternal-like instincts snapped her awake, and she turned her head round the room fervently in search of her sister—she heaved a sigh in relief as she saw Serah sprawled over the couch, her tiny frame lying somewhat peacefully above the soft cream fabric. Flights took a lot out of the sisters; it was normal for them to get sleepy after a trip on a plane. And it looked like Lebreau wasn't so different.

Lightning quietly shuffled out of her bed, careful not to awaken any of the two sleeping members near her. She made her way over to the desk opposite her bed, silently feeling around for her phone somewhere on the hard, smooth surface. _There it is,_ she thought, hitting a button on the silver device. She blinked rather agonizingly as she tried to adjust to the light emitting from the screen, and saw the time: 7:30 PM. Had she really slept that long? But what was the time that she'd actually arrived at the hotel? Somewhere around five, wasn't it? That wasn't too long. Or so she hoped.

Lightning remembered what Serah had said about the guys going out to buy Maqui some swimming trunks. She wondered if they'd unintentionally kept the men waiting with their sleep—but remembered that Yuj had tagged along with the rest of the group as well, which would have probably stretched the wait for themselves by around an hour.

She jumped at the sound of stirring, turning to see Serah rubbing her eyes wearily as she yawned. "Sis…?" she murmured, blinking. There was a split second before she took a look out the window to see the dark sky and snapped to her senses, scrambling out of the couch to check the time.

"How long has it been?" she asked, her voice already traced with dread. "7:30," Lightning replied curtly.

"Oh, shoot!" Serah said, shutting her eyes for a moment before opening them back again. She started wringing her hands, distraught, as she started to ramble. "We overslept, didn't we? Are they waiting for us, or are they sleeping, too? How long did we—"

"Serah, it's fine," Lightning said. "I don't think they're back yet. We haven't even got a call from them or anything. Trust me, if we'd kept them waiting, they would have called all three of us to try and reach us."

Serah stopped pacing and let out a breath of relief, placing her hand to her chest. "I don't understand what the big fuss is about. They would've kept themselves occupied enough if we made them wait, anyways," Lightning muttered. Right as she spoke, however, the phone on the desk next to her started to vibrate. Taking the metallic device in her hands, she caught a glimpse of the caller I.D. written across the screen: Hope Estheim. Pressing "Answer", she raised the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Light. Um…sorry for the wait, but we'll be back in about fifteen minutes. Yuj was being paranoid with Maqui's choice of swimming trunks, and we kind of got lost around the…mall. We're getting back to the hotel, and Snow told me to tell you guys to…wait, what?"

There was the distant sound of muffled conversation in the background, and Hope's voice was abruptly brought back up in the call. "Okay. Snow told me to tell you guys to get dressed, because we're going to go out to eat." He paused for a moment, and his voice was once again directed towards an unknown speaker in the background. More muffled voices.

He spoke again. "Sorry, he also told me to let you know that you guys should probably put on your swimsuits underneath, because…oh. Apparently, we're going night swimming after dinner."

"Night swimming?" Lightning repeated, her voice slightly contorted in speculation.

"Uh…yeah."

There was a brief silence before Lightning let Hope know that she would tell the rest of the women, and ended the call. She turned around to see Serah and Lebreau, who were now fully awake and had been watching her speak with Hope. She sighed and put the phone down, glancing at them both.

"Let's get ready."

* * *

As Hope and the rest of the rowdy group of men made their way down to the lobby, he couldn't help but squirm slightly at the thought of being on a trip with Lightning. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen her in a while; in fact, the last time that he'd seen her before their flight had been only a couple weeks ago, but going somewhere together—even with a group, somehow elated him.

He was now nineteen, tall, smart, and needless to say, still aware of his feelings for Lightning. Contrary to initial speculation, his feelings were not from a mere crush that had developed while he was fourteen; it had grown into something more, more important, more significant, more…real. Of course, it wasn't like that at the start—he'd simply admired her boldness and resolute determination to save her sister while they'd traveled together, along with that pretty face that he was sure no other man would ever be able to resist in all their years on Gran Pulse. Yet after Cocoon's fall, they simply exchanged some messages every now and then; the crush on Lightning had shortly left his mind thereafter, and he had been occupied with schoolwork and personal matters of his own.

However, right as he'd met her again at Serah's wedding, after he turned sixteen...

…he was sent down the everlasting spiral of a remembrance of his childish feelings for her, going through a rather torturous week after that wedding of recalling her face, her voice, and her personality every day as he walked to school. A two-year gap had caused him to forget how he'd used to feel about her, but right after they'd met, he found himself thinking of Lightning over and over again. He'd eventually worked up the courage to go talk to her alone at some point—and they did. Their eventual meetings with each other to a nearby coffee shop during her breaks or run-ins at Serah's home drove them closer and closer together, and he'd even take the occasional walk to her house for a little chat. They were friends, something that Hope was rather proud of.

He'd half-expected his feelings to fade and somehow cross into the line of friendship at some point, but three years passed and he quickly realized that any chances of that happening were way off. He'd gotten to know more about Lightning and the more personal details—what she liked to eat, what she found particularly exhausting about her job, how she'd cope with busy schedules, all sorts of other things—and he grew to genuinely care about her and willingly hear her out when she had any problems.

He wanted to see her, again and again.

He wanted to hear her voice.

And he was now nineteen; old enough (and tall enough) to tell her about his feelings.

But how? That was the small issue that he'd been mentally struggling with for the past few months. School kept him busy; he was now at the top of his class and on a short break, however, so it gave him some time to actually think up a valid solution for his current problem. Of course, doubts stopped him in his tracks as he went on; what would he do if she didn't accept him? Chances of possible rejection were, though he didn't like to admit it, high. Not to mention the seven-year-gap. How would she take it? Would she be repulsed, or shocked? Would she even give him a response? So many questions filled his mind, and frequent doubts tended to make him want to give up on the spot. But he couldn't; not after three long years of this. He was going to tell her someday. He just didn't know how to, or when, exactly.

"Hope." Hope awoke out of his trance and looked back up at Gadot, startled. "You've been spacing out for a good ten minutes, man."

"Oh," Hope said. "Sorry."

Gadot shook his head, chuckling. "Something on your mind?"

"Not really," Hope lied. "Just wondering what's taking them so long."

"Nah, women normally take a lot longer than this. Lebreau's usually pretty cool about it, but Serah's taken up to thirty minutes while we all waited in the car for her."

"Wow," Hope said, though not too surprised. He'd known that Serah took great care in her appearance—she was pretty modest about it, but the amount of time she spent in putting on makeup or whatever girls did in the bathroom was unsurprising.

"Well, whaddaya know," Maqui chirped, pointing over to something in the distance. "There they are." Hope looked up to see three figures making their way towards them, and saw each of their respective outfits as they drew near.

Lebreau's choice of clothes remained unchanged; she still wore the same purple top over her white blouse, along with a pair of startlingly short shorts. Serah was wearing a pink dress that floated down to her knees, decorated with floral imprints over the soft fabric. Hope's eyes remained distracted, however, as his eyes skimmed Lightning; her pink hair was casually tossed over her left shoulder as always, and she wore a pair of denim shorts beneath her red, plaid blouse. The whole get-up was as simple as it could get—yet it retained its attractive quality, somehow making her stand out more so than usual. Why was that?

"Hey," Lightning said, carelessly running a hand through her hair. "Sorry for the wait. Serah was having a little wardrobe malfunction."

Hope shook his head, feeling his hair toss around his eyes as he did so. "It's fine. You ready for some dinner?" he said as they walked out of the front doors, making their way to their next destination with each step they took. Lightning nodded, briefly lifting a pale hand to her stomach before letting it drop to her side. "Starving," she admitted, taking a brief glimpse of her surroundings. "What's this place called, anyways?"

"Ferrasana," Hope answered. "I'm pretty sure you know where it is, though." Lightning nodded in response. "Next to Palumpolum…"

"Claire, did you bring the camera?" Serah called from behind the pair; Lightning turned around, responding with the same level of volume that Serah had begun with. "I put it in your bag, it should be there."

"What? It's not here…"

Lightning fully shifted her body towards Serah this time, walking over to her sister to help her find the missing camera in her cluttered bag. With Lightning now absent from her position next to Hope, Maqui and Yuj found the opportunity to creep up behind Hope, immediately throwing their arms over his neck much like Snow had done earlier in the afternoon. "What are you guys—" he began, but was brusquely cut off as a chill ran up his spine. There was a split second before he felt something icy cold drop down his back, followed by a couple more—he yelped, and immediately threw the back of his shirt away from his body to let the cubes of ice fall to the ground. The two boys behind him roared in laughter as they ran for their lives—Hope followed suit, muttering a string of curses under his breath before he finally managed to catch them.

* * *

Dinner was hectic with NORA at the table, but everyone remained in a good mood as they ate. The meal passed quickly in Snow's rush to go swimming; Lightning didn't really see the need to dive into a cold body of water right at the moment considering that it was almost ten at night, but complied nevertheless, seeing as the rest of the group seemed eager to go as much as Snow was.

It was a short walk—the restaurant had been right next to the beach, in fact, and it wasn't long before they all reached the rather calm, glimmering body of water.

Serah and Snow were busy setting up the towels onto the soft sand, but half of the group had already stripped down to their swimwear and run into the cool water. The sound of splashing water and shouts of laughter were far off into the distance as Lightning sat herself in the warm sand, watching the water move as she did so.

The sound of the waves had a calming effect on her. She'd never minded the ocean; in fact, she found the sight in front of her rather entrancing. Moonlight reflected off the clear surface, the image of the moon itself slightly distorted by the rippling waves as they moved back and forth, lapping onto the sand and retreating with every movement.

A few minutes passed, and she awoke from her peaceful daze to the sound of shuffling. Turning to see the source of the noise, she was faced with Serah's back as she peeled off her dress, revealing a small striped bikini underneath. As soon as she tightened the fabric wrapping her hair in a ponytail, though, she caught Lightning's eyes and smiled. "Aren't you going to swim?"

"Mm," Lightning murmured, shifting her body weight back onto her palms. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to go swimming—the night air was warm, sure, but the thought of getting into the water seemed somewhat distant from pleasing. For one thing, she enjoyed where she was right now and found no reason to remove herself from her current position.

"Well, if you're not going to get into the water, you could stay here with Hope," Serah said. Lightning looked up, puzzled. "What?"

"You're not going swimming, either?" Lightning swiftly turned her head to the voice to see a familiar figure; Hope was standing in his swimming trunks, but his bare chest was covered with a white T-shirt draped over his slender build.

"Maybe," Lightning said, turning her head to idly face the ocean once more. "You should go—it seems fun."

"Then why aren't you going?"

"I don't really…feel like it," Lightning said.

"Well, you seem like you're in a better mood than before," Hope said, grinning. "Did you take a nap or something?"

To his surprise, Lightning nodded. "I get tired after flights. I'm alright now." She turned to face Hope; her eyes seemed to glow as the moonlight illuminated her face at the current angle. "Looks like you're pretty used to it, though."

Hope shrugged. "My dad and I used to travel a lot. I got used to planes—he'd always have a lot of business trips, and I'd come along with him, since I was too young to stay home by myself. Now I just stay in New Bodhum, though."

"Isn't it boring?" Lightning asked, tilting her head in a slight motion of curiosity. "Not really," Hope said. "I get to visit you, so it's okay."

_Maker. Did I really just say that?_ Hope silently cursed himself for the barely-there compliment, but Lightning pretended not to notice. Trying to ignore the heat starting to spread over his cheeks, Hope averted his gaze from hers and sat next to Lightning, watching as the others laughed, tossing around in the water ahead of them. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, until Hope cleared his throat, dragging Lightning's attention back to him. He stood up, and before she knew it, he had pulled his white T-shirt over his head and set it to the side before stretching, revealing his slender build as he did so. He caught Lightning's eye and blushed, taking a few steps forward into the sand before turning to face her.

He stuck out his hand; Lightning looked at it quizzically before he raised an eyebrow, wordlessly suggesting that they go out for a swim. She caught on and shook her head, insisting that she stay right where she was. Hope rolled his eyes and thrust his hand out once more, urging her to follow. It was obvious from the deliberate shake of her head that she was not interested, and he was forced to retreat his hand at the silent "no".

"Light…"

"What? I don't want to swim."

"Come on. Please, for me?" Hope clapped his hands together as if in prayer, silently begging her to comply with his request.

"Why do you want me to go so bad?" Lightning asked, leaning forward.

Hope shrugged, not really giving an answer as he clasped his hands, bowing his head as he kept asking. For a second, he thought she was going to say no again, when he heard a small sigh emit from her lips. Before he knew it, a familiar blouse was tossed over his silver locks, blocking his vision. He lifted his head up, removing the article of clothing from his line of sight. He felt a shiver run down his back as he saw Lightning, now having disposed of her shorts and shirt.

She was wearing a solid-color bikini, exposing much more of her legs and waist than Hope had ever managed to see before. Sure, the standard Guardian Corps she was so committed to had showed a lot more leg than he'd wanted to admit, but this was different. The black fabric clashed with her smooth, pale skin, and Hope abruptly turned to hide the red starting to wash over his face before hearing her voice.

"Come on, Estheim. Looks like you've got some swimming to do." And before he knew it, they were already heading over to the tide, dipping their feet into the cold water before fully submerging into the clear, cool liquid.

Lightning was surprisingly fast when it came to swimming. It had been no later than a couple of minutes that she appeared several feet ahead of Hope; he propelled himself, catching up to the pink-haired soldier as she floated with ease. "Having fun?" he asked. He could see the smallest hint of a smile flit across her face before she completely immersed herself into the water, disappearing from his sight. He turned to see where she'd gone—

-only to have a handful of saltwater splashed in his face.

"Oh, you're on," Hope said, and before he knew it he was chasing after her, almost racing to try and catch the swimming soldier before he eventually managed to catch up. He caught her wrist, and she was dragged back along with the waves, meeting his eyes—there was a brief moment of silence before Hope splashed _his_ handful of water to the face, initiating an almost snarl-like sound from Lightning as she shook the liquid from her hair. She immediately retaliated with her own share of water, and it was only a moment before they began a full-on water fight, broken laughs caught in between splashes as they did so.

A few minutes passed, and they finally stopped; Hope was left grinning as he shook the water from his ear, Lightning wiping the water from her cheek before she turned to catch the sight of a looming figure in the distance.

"Follow me," she said.

Hope nodded and followed, though not too sure where they were going. After a few more strokes and pedals, however, he could see that they were drawing near a cave, the entrance particularly large as they swam through it. Hope's eyes started to wander round in search of a nearby light; the cave was pitch black and he couldn't see anything. However, his thoughts were corrected as a beam of light shone through an opening at the top of the cave. An opening? He looked up to see the moon, shining brightly onto the pair as they slowly swam through. It was a beautiful sight. The cave was filled with the moonlight, and Hope was so engrossed in the unique display that it took him a few seconds to realize that he had bumped against something hard. In front of him was an almost bench-like rock, and Lightning hoisted herself onto the rough surface, allowing herself to rest against the side of the cave. Hope did the same, and they sat side-by-side in silence before glancing at each other.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Lightning said, looking up.

Hope nodded. "How'd you know it was here?" he asked.

Lightning paused, leaning forward as she thought. "I didn't," she said. Hope looked at her, somewhat nonplussed, and she shrugged. "I just saw it and wondered what was inside."

Hope chuckled, smiling as he looked at his companion. "I guess you do get curious about things."

"What?"

"You just seem to pass things off as normal when they're unusual, or different. It's not like you to go exploring a cave because you 'happen to see it'."

"I guess it's different this time," Lightning said vaguely.

It seemed like forever until they finally decided to detach themselves from their current position. It was actually quite comfortable, but they knew they couldn't stay too long. Still, Hope found it hard to pull himself away from the exquisite view. He wasn't too sure why, but something about the moon shining through and onto the clear water in the dark cave seemed to be haunting yet beautiful at the same time. It seemed to fascinate Lightning, as well, because they both lingered in the center of the cave, right below the opening at the top of the dome-like area.

"We should probably get going—" she began, but was cut off as a sudden glow surrounded the two, practically radiating through the water as they turned their heads to see what was going on. Lightning gasped—the water seemed to be glowing itself, bright blue rippling back and forth, lapping against the sides of the cave before it went away. As soon as it had come, the glow was gone, leaving a stunned Hope and Lightning alone with the shining moon once more.

As they both turned to look at each other, they could practically read each other's thoughts, expressions slightly widened in the midst of their speechlessness.

_What just happened?_

* * *

It wasn't long before Hope and Lightning made their way back to the beach, over to an impatient group of men and women as they huffed, crossing their arms as they watched the two dry off.

"What took you guys so long?" Yuj complained. His hair was already almost dry from the wait, and Hope bit his lip in apology. He hadn't realized much time they'd actually taken from the swim.

"Sorry, guys," he said, head swiveling over to the rest of NORA and Serah. "We got a little…lost."

"Yeah, right," Lebreau said, rolling her eyes. "Either you guys were trying to save each other from drowning, or decided to make out in the middle of the—"

"Oh-kaaay, I think that's enough for tonight. Why don't we get going now?" Snow said, quietly hushing Lebreau. Hope could feel his face start to heat up for the third time throughout the whole night—damn it, why couldn't he control his blush? He silently thanked the Maker that it was dark out, and that none of the others could see his face too clearly. Lightning, on the other hand, remained silent, giving her plaid blouse a final tug before wringing the water out of her pink hair.

* * *

"Thanks for the day, Snow," Gadot said, yawning. "But I think I'll turn in for the night."

Serah and the others nodded in agreement, each going around and exchanging their goodnights before heading off to their respective rooms. They were back at the hotel, and it was late; almost midnight, Lightning noticed as she looked at the clock on the wall. As soon as she got to her room, she would take a quick shower, dry off, and head back to her bed. Her muscles were starting to feel sore from the long swim, and she quietly rubbed her tender arms; she would need lots of rest for the night.

"Tonight was fun, Light," Hope said, and she looked up to see the familiar face smiling at her. "Well, it was…interesting, too, but it was fun. Thanks."

Lightning allowed herself to return the smile, but it was small and polite, rather than a genuine one. "You too," she said, too tired to say anything else. She thought back to the cave. "Interesting" had been a suitable word for the experience. The glowing in the water had startled her, but she assumed it was bioluminescence, or some of the sort. She didn't give it too much thought at the moment, however, as Hope gave her one final wave and turned around, retreating to join his friends as they walked over to the elevator. Lightning turned to join her own roommates, walking next to her sister and Lebreau as they made their way to the room awaiting their arrival.

* * *

The next morning was met with numerous groans and squints as Lightning slowly stirred, raising her hand to cover her eyes as she turned to avoid the light passing through the thin, white curtains. _Ugh…_

She felt sore. The distant throbbing in her head helped reawaken her senses, though with some pain on her part. As she laid in bed for the next few minutes, motionless, she let herself slowly recall the memories of last night, bringing forth the question of what they were going to do today. She brought her hand to her chest, slightly scratching at a particular, itching area between her ribs.

And froze.

Lightning's hand had landed on something not soft, but somewhat hard. The place where her fingers had reached touched a smooth, flat surface, not at all what she had been expecting. She felt a bit derisive of herself to think this for a split second, but…where was her chest?

As she dropped her gaze from the ceiling to the skin below her neck, she stared. Where her chest had been yesterday was now replaced with a completely flat surface, covered by a thin, white T-shirt. She fingered the cloth, trying to recall what she'd worn to bed yesterday. A loose, black tank top. So what was she wearing now?

Something was very wrong.

As she shuffled out of bed, she was rewarded with a wave of vertigo; the soldier waited impatiently for the room to stop spinning and somehow managed to reach the bathroom, hands fumbling with the doorknob before she swung the white wood open. As she turned to see the mirror, what she saw immediately snapped her to her senses. She was now completely receptive to any signs of noise or movement around her as her breath hitched; yet her mind failed to fully register what she was seeing in the mirror all at the same time.

The reflection in the mirror was not the familiar face she saw every morning. Oh, no. In fact, it was quite the opposite. What Lightning saw in the mirror was not the same pink hair, the pair of blue eyes, nor the heart-shaped face…instead, her eyes met the reflection of a very different face, containing a pair of bright green eyes, framed with that silver hair she recognized from somewhere else. _Someone_ else, to be more exact.

Hope.

Hope Estheim.

At the same time, a young man who had expected to see Maqui or Snow next to him as he woke up was met with a rather shocking surprise. As he turned to his side, he saw Serah, who had absentmindedly climbed into his bed in the middle of the night. Hope's eyes widened, and he practically jumped out of the bed at the sight of a younger Farron lying next to him in a pair of pink pajamas. He stood up and his eyes roamed the room, taking in the purple bra that hung off the chair next to him and Lebreau snoring in her sleep opposite him.

It had been no longer than three seconds that Hope managed to scramble to the bathroom, throwing the door open as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror.

His once silver hair was gone, replaced by that familiar pink shade of curls that naturally fell over his left shoulder. Green eyes were replaced with ones highlighted by a shade of blue, and his slender build had suddenly changed into a…suspiciously curvaceous figure. And most of all…

Hope's hands fell on the new pair of unfamiliar breasts on his chest, right as Lightning directed her line of vision towards the visible bump in her pants.

Two hair-raising screams echoed throughout the Ferrasana hotel, as the two came to the dawning realization of the unexpected and rather shocking switch.

* * *

**So there you have it! Gender swap. I actually wanted to write something like this for some time now, and I came across this little file just waiting to be edited somewhere in my computer. It was almost done, and I ran through it a lot of times before I actually submitted it and finished up the ending. Well, hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.**


	2. A Solution

**Hey, guys.**

**Thanks a lot for all the reviews, favorites, and follows so far! ^^ I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to respond to all your reviews, so I'm sorry. I promise I'll get to them by next week! I really appreciate all the comments you guys have made, thank you so much.**

**And now, my replies to guest reviews:**

**Lawman: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter. (^o^)**

**haha: Thanks for your review. Well, here's the next chapter you were waiting for:)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

There had been a short time in which Lightning had managed to overlook her new appearance before the somewhat deep yet piercing noise escaped her lips. It was purely from a stroke of luck that she managed to shut herself up right as the loud noise rang through the air, and as the low thud sounding on the other side of the wall brought her back to her senses. She instinctively reached for the bathroom door, pushed it shut, and flicked the lock to the left.

As soon as the door was secure and locked, Lightning whipped around and moved over to the mirror, keeping her eyes on the rather abnormal reflection. She could feel her jaw already start to slacken from the sight, and as soon as her mouth fell loose, the stranger in the mirror replicated the action. It was so strange and odd and just so _weird_ that she struggled to think clearly. A tiny part of her that enabled her to actually process what she was seeing was disengaged from the rest of her clouded thoughts, which were mostly blurred from shock.

Lightning brought up a hand to touch her face, her fingers barely grazing the new skin. Right as she did so, she could see Hope's lips twitching in the mirror; she blinked, bringing her hands away from her cheek to rub her eyes, silently hoping that somehow, everything was merely a dream. She opened her eyes again.

She was wide awake.

Lightning could feel her mouth go dry and immediately felt sweat start to bead on her palms, the panic starting to kick in. Her racing thoughts were interrupted, however, as she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Hope? What's wrong?" Lightning immediately recognized the voice: Snow. She started to question why _Snow_ was in the room, of all people, but quickly reminded herself that Hope had been sharing a room with Snow and Maqui. Feeling her stomach sink, she licked her lips—shuddering at the feeling in the process—and cleared her throat, trying to remain calm (with just the smallest amount of success) as she responded.

"I'm fine," she croaked, barely managing to bite back a gasp as she heard her voice: it was much lower and deeper in her ears than _her_ voice had ever been the day before, and she turned to look at the mirror once more. The stranger was still there. Hope was still standing in the mirror, his face slightly flushed in the midst of Lightning's panic and hands clenched at his sides, replicating Lightning's actions.

There was no response on the other side of the door, which gave her some time to try and think. She'd woken up, seen that she was wearing clothes she hadn't worn to bed the previous night, seen her reflection...

…and the person in the mirror was not her, but Hope.

She froze. Did this mean that she was in Hope's body?

"No, no, no…" she muttered, startling herself in the process. There it was again: that strange, masculine, and rather deep voice that had suddenly been detached from its original owner. She curled her fingers into a ball and shook her head vigorously, as if it would help snap her out of the trance she had been in.

_Get a hold of yourself!_ she scolded, shutting her eyes. _Stay calm. Think clearly. Plan your next step. What do you do?_

She allowed herself to lean back against the cold, smooth bathroom tiling, eyes narrowed in thought as she tried to keep her head.

_If I'm in Hope's body…_she didn't want to admit it, but it seemed like the most likely matter. She let out a small breath of relief nevertheless, now able to finally think.

_So if I'm in Hope's body…where's mine?_

* * *

Hope, in turn, had not the soldier instincts that Lightning had to shut himself up right after the rather high-pitched, shrill scream had emitted from his mouth. In fact, he wasn't even aware of the fact that he'd been making so much noise until he heard a lurid banging on the bathroom door, along with a voice he immediately recognized.

"Claire? What's wrong? Are you okay?" the voice was alarmingly loud. Hope whipped his head to the side and saw that the door was not locked; he instinctively lunged for the doorknob, but to no avail as Serah threw open the door. Her eyes were already widened in immense concern; she had not heard her sister scream like that ever since they were small children. Hearing such a sound come from Lightning had been shocking, and she'd immediately rushed over to the source of the noise at once.

"Claire! What happened?" Serah exclaimed, raising a hand to touch her sister—only to be met with a startling response. Hope immediately jerked away from Serah and backed up against the bathroom wall, eyes widened as he searched for the right words that were currently caught in his throat.

_Where the hell am I? What happened? Why is Serah here? And why…_

Hope turned to briefly glance at the mirror next to him, mouth immediately turning dry at the sight awaiting him.

…_why do I look like Lightning?_

Serah, now noticeably puzzled by the reaction from "Lightning", took a hesitant step forward, only to get the same response as earlier A low groan was heard behind her small frame; she and Hope both turned to see Lebreau, wearing a see-through, white T-shirt and a light pair of sweatpants. She ran her fingers through her tangled, messy hair and squinted to see a now rather pale "Lightning", eyes darting this way and that as Hope looked from Serah to Lebreau, then Serah to Lebreau again.

"…Light…?" Lebreau barely got the chance to slur the name before Hope acted on autopilot, his new feet taking him over to the front door in a matter of seconds. He fumbled with the lock for a second before taking out the room and into the hallway; he had no idea where he was going. He didn't have the slightest thought as to why he was running, either; he merely kept running, despite the calls from Lebreau and Serah—"Lightning!"—and made his way to the nearest exit, heart beating rapidly in his chest as he did so.

* * *

Lightning snapped her head up to the sound of her name, immediately withdrawing from her leaning position on the wall and looking at the locked door. "Hope? Are you okay?" another voice called out through the white wood; she vaguely identified it as Maqui, and her new name was followed by a small grunt and a light knock on the doorframe. "You there? Hope?" Maqui repeated, jiggling the doorknob as he tried to open the door.

"I'm…I'm okay," Lightning called back, and her hands slowly found their way over to the towel hanging off the rack behind her.

"Um…you don't sound very okay," Maqui said. Lightning cursed under her breath and tugged at the towel, now leaving its place from the rack and dragging across the cold bathroom tiles as she made her way over to the door. "Could you come out?" Maqui continued.

Lightning didn't respond. Instead, she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and—taking a deep breath—counted down from three. Her plan was going to work. She was sure of it.

"Hope?" Maqui repeated her, and in a second she shot open the door, earning a small yelp of pain from Maqui, threw the towel over her head to hide her face, and bolted out the front entrance, taking off as the blonde shouted after her in surprise. She couldn't hear what he was saying—he was already too far away, and she sprinted down the hallway, looking for an exit.

Lightning made her way over to the flight of stairs at the next turn and dashed down the steps, the rest of the towel flying behind her as she ducked her head and managed to get down to the lobby. She bumped into a group of women on the way, rewarded with numerous squawks of protest, but simply ignored it and spotted an unfamiliar, empty doorframe; she immediately headed over to the newfound exit, squinting as the sunlight drilled into her now green eyes. Lightning shifted the towel over her forehead to block out the light as she ran, and in a matter of seconds she was squatting behind a bush, surrounded by flowers and plants as she hid.

The soldier, now breathing heavily from the run, took the time to catch her breath before taking a chance to examine her surroundings. It appeared that she was in some sort of garden—there was a small pond next to a marble bench, and she could see the reflection of a few trees and nearby plants shining off the surface of the rippling water.

Lightning turned to fully direct her attention to the pond after she made sure no one was around the quiet garden, took a deep breath, and threw off the towel resting against her hair. She stared.

The face of Hope was staring back at her once more, green eyes wide and alert as silver strands framed the defined jaw, squared shoulders hunched together as Lightning leaned against the edge of the pond.

"No way," she murmured. "Not possible."

But it was. And as she stared at her reflection, she could see a looming figure come up behind her, as well…

A hand made its way on her shoulder and whipped her around, and before Lightning had time to protest, her lips immediately parted to let out a gasp for what seemed like the tenth time that day.

Lightning was now staring at…well, Lightning. She saw her own face in front of her, her body moving on its own accord as pallid lips parted in what seemed to be a gasp, as well. The stranger in front of Lightning was obviously as shocked as she was, if not more. She tried to wrap her tongue around her words, but failed as her body opened its mouth to speak.

"Li…Lightning?"

As soon as the words escaped the stranger's lips, Lightning immediately recognized the tone. It was her same old voice—but she could hear it. "_Hope?_

At an immediate loss for words, the two took advantage of the moment to examine each other's bodies, eyes fixated on the person in front of them as they stared in incredulity.

"How did this happen?" Hope, or Lightning, asked. Lightning, or Hope, blinked, watching her own face contorted in confusion. It was so strange seeing her face at this angle, but she barely had time to ponder her thoughts before she answered the question.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I just woke up like…this." She vaguely gestured to her current form, and quickly realized how unsteady her tone was; she cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure despite the situation she was in.

"Does this mean we switched bodies?" The question left her mouth before she had time to think.

Hope blinked. "Uh…what?" Apparently, Lightning wasn't the only one having a hard time getting over the situation.

"Did we switch bodies?" Lightning repeated, with more emphasis ridden on each syllable. It seemed to do the trick; Hope snapped out of his trance and looked at Lightning, as if he'd just realized that she'd asked the question. His eyes briefly flicked up and down Lightning's new body before he answered.

"…I guess so," he said. He bit his lip. "I mean, I'm in your body, and you're moving around in mine. What else is there to say?"

"'What else is there to say?'" Lightning repeated. "We've _switched bodies_. How did this happen?"

"I don't know!" Hope snapped back, immediately surprised by the level of force in his retort. Nevertheless, he continued. "I just…I woke up like this, same as you! How am I supposed to know how it happened?"

Lightning suddenly stood up from her seated position, rising behind the bush and immediately turning to walk away. Hope caught her wrist before she could do so. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going to go ask for help," she said flatly.

"What? Are you crazy?!" Hope hissed. He shut himself up right as Lightning shot him a death glare—even in his own body, the intimidation shooting from her eyes was practically burning into his head. "I mean…" he tried to correct himself, looking back up at Lightning once he thought up a valid explanation. "We can't tell anyone about this. Do you really think people are going to believe the fact that we've switched bodies? They'll put us in a mental ward!"

Lightning narrowed her eyes, shaking off the hand clutched around her wrist. "Then what do you want me to do? You want us to stay like this forever?"

Hope shook his head. "No. But we can't tell anyone about this. I'm serious, Light. We can't tell anyone."

Lightning closed her now green eyes and took a deep breath, fighting to keep her head before she let a string of mutters escape her mouth. She sat back down onto the soft grass, seating herself in front of Hope once more. She finally opened her eyes as she looked back at Hope, now ready to speak.

"Fine. We won't tell anyone. But I don't know how this happened. Neither of us know how this…happened. We might as well try and solve the problem ourselves."

"Right now, we need to try and think. Did we do anything yesterday that might've…triggered this?"

Hope thought for a moment, brows furrowed in thought as he did so. "Maybe…"

"What?"

"You know that cave that we swam into yesterday?" Hope asked.

Lightning blinked. "The cave…?" she thought back to how they'd been swimming in the middle of the calm water the previous night, when the sudden glow had spread through the waves, illuminating the dark walls with a bright blue. "You think a glowing cave did this to us?"

Hope raised his hands in the air in a defensive gesture. "Hey, it's just a guess. I mean, what else? You think we just happened to swim around in radiating water and wake up the next morning in each other's bodies?"

Lightning had to admit, he had a point. As crazy as it sounded, the cave had been the only thing they'd managed to come across as different the previous night.

"Okay, so the water in the cave started glowing. What do we do now?"

"Well...uh, maybe we could go down and swim over to it today. Test the water, you know?" Hope said, scratching the back of his head as he did so. Lightning resisted the urge to feel her own hair—she suddenly became aware of the rather naked feeling of the back of her neck, as the pink shoulder-length curls were no longer present.

"So we could go there tonight and see if we can reverse this thing," Lightning concluded.

Hope nodded. "All we have to do is tell the other guys that we want to go over there again, and they'll agree. Easy." He paused, taking a glance over his shoulder before he spoke again. "By the way, how are we going to change when we're like this?"

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I mean, we've switched bodies. How are we going to change, and go to the…" his voice faltered, twin spots of pink starting to form on his cheeks. Lightning quickly realized what he meant to say and felt her own face start to heat up, as well. That was right. How would they be able to go to the bathroom and resume their daily tasks for a whole day, not to mention shower and change?

"You took a shower yesterday, right?" Lightning asked. Hope nodded. "Well, we don't have a problem with that," Lightning said curtly. "Just wait until tonight, after we go back to the cave."

"But what if the plan doesn't work?" Hope asked.

Lightning felt her own stomach drop at the thought. What if they _did_ have to stay like this forever? She could feel her own insecurity start to creep in as she thought more and more about the question.

"Then we'll have to find some other way. And we'll talk about it when we actually get to it. The…other stuff," Lightning said, keeping her words at their general sense to avoid any further sense of embarrassment on the issue. Hope seemed to have no other answer. Instead, he simply nodded and lowered his eyes to the ground.

"I'll pretend to be you, and you'll pretend to be me for now," Lightning continued. "Just act the best you can until tonight. It'll be over soon." Though the reassurance was ringing in her voice, she and Hope both knew that there was no way of actually knowing the truth. They could only hope for the time being.

* * *

The pair had slowly walked over to their respective rooms, each exchanging their goodbyes before splitting up.

"Okay," Hope had said. "So…don't do anything that might let the others know that something's up. Act normal. Right?" Lightning nodded and they exchanged a brief glance before taking off in the opposite direction, only to turn back as Hope called her name once more. "Light?"

"What?"

"If you…do your business," Hope said, pausing. "Uh…don't…look down." He blushed, and she nodded once more; they both promised each other that they would do the same and respect each other's privacy, and Lightning couldn't help but feel relieved, despite some doubt left in her gut. She trusted Hope, but the thought of anyone seeing her body without any attire to properly cover her was rather uncomfortable. She shook the thought away. _Just trust Hope. It's going to be over soon._

As Lightning approached the door to her room, she raised a hand to knock on the hard wood—only to have it swung open by a startled Maqui. "Hope!" he exclaimed, and he immediately took his friend's shoulders. "Where have you been? Snow and Gadot went out to look for you! And Lightning disappeared—Serah was crying, where did you guys go?!"

"Serah was crying?" Lightning repeated, surprised. She felt a twitch of guilt for making her sister cry, but resolved to somehow apologize later. "I mean…sorry. It won't happen again."

Maqui shook his head, removing his hands from Lightning's shoulders. "Geez. I knew I caused trouble every once in a while, but what you did scared the hell out of everyone, even Snow. And where's Lightning?"

Lightning fought back the instinct to scoff at Maqui's assumed causing trouble "every once in a while". "Lightning's fine," she said. "She was…feeling sick. I ran into her on the way, she went back to her room now."

Maqui let out a breath of relief. "Okay. I'll call the others and let them know that you guys came back." And with that, he hurried off to the other room to get his phone.

* * *

It had taken Hope a full ten minutes until Serah had stopped bawling, her mix of anger and blubbering words stirring him up into letting out a hundred apologies all at once.

"I'm sorry, Serah. I just wasn't feeling very good. I moved on instinct, I'm sorry."

"Don't _ever_ do that again!" Serah cried. "We spent so much time looking for you, I thought you were gone for good." She sniffed and grabbed a tissue, blowing her nose before tossing it into a nearby trash can. And before he knew it, Hope was pulled into a tight embrace, with Serah's arms wrapped around her supposed sister's neck. He eventually relaxed and felt his arms glide over her back, returning the hug before she finally let go. He couldn't help but wonder why she'd accepted his somewhat lame excuse without question, but assumed that the relief from having her sister back had made her forget about any questions…for now.

Right as he reached the thought, Hope heard a knock on the door. "That'll be Lebreau," Serah said, walking over to the entrance and undoing the lock. Behind the door stood Lebreau and Yuj, standing side-by-side as their eyes immediately rested on Hope. Lebreau's hand immediately leapt to her chest as she let out a breath of relief. "Thank Maker," she muttered. "Where the hell did you go, Light? We looked literally everywhere for you."

"Sorry," Hope said, biting his lip. "I'm really sorry. It won't happen again, I swear."

Lebreau and Yuj blinked as Serah turned to eye Hope, visibly puzzled by his reaction. _Crap,_ he thought. _That's not what Lightning would say. That's not what she would say at all. _Searching his thoughts for a suitable reaction, he immediately crossed his arms, correcting himself. "I mean…right. Sure. I'll be more careful next time."

Yuj let out an audible snicker behind the door, immediately shushed by Lebreau as she lightly whacked him across the shoulder. "At least you're back," she said. "I guess that's all that matters."

Hope nodded and let out an inward breath of relief as Lebreau said bye to Yuj, shut the door behind her, and flicked the lock to the left.

"Well, apparently Snow's already made plans for today. We're a little bit late on breakfast, but we should get going, anyways," Lebreau said. She cocked her head to look past Hope's shoulder. "Serah, you want some help with that?" Hope turned around and suddenly felt his cheeks start to heat up for what felt like the fifth time that day.

Serah was struggling with the zipper located on the back of her dress, the back of her pink bra visible for Hope to see as she tried to push the metal charm further down her back, but to no avail. Hope immediately turned away to avoid the view, unsure of what to do as Lebreau walked swiftly past him.

"Yeah, the zipper's stuck—right there. I think it got caught in the fabric," Serah said. Hope could hear a small grunt and the sound of faint clinking—in a few seconds, Serah sighed. "Thanks, Lebreau."

"No problem. Why are you redoing the zipper? I thought you were all ready to go by this morning."

"No…" Serah said. "I just threw this thing on after Lightning ran out the door. I didn't really get the chance to put on some real clothes." She paused for a moment. "Light? Aren't you going to get ready?"

Hope turned on instinct, having missed out on half of Serah's conversation with Lebreau—and he immediately wished he hadn't. Serah was standing in a mere camisole and underwear underneath, with no visible shorts or jeans to fully cover her lower half. He yelped, and whipped around again.

"What's the matter?" Lebreau asked, placing a hand on her companion's shoulder. Hope immediately stiffened, shaking his head numbly. He wasn't a prude, but seeing his crush's sister without anything to fully cover herself made him more uncomfortable than necessary. "I…I think I'll go change in the bathroom," he said, scrambling for the dresser next to the bed before rushing off. His hands found a simple T-shirt and a pair of shorts, and he seized them without a second thought as he ran for the bathroom.

_So much for keeping up a convincing act._

* * *

NORA and the rest of the group met up in the lobby, having now washed up and now ready to go.

"Well, gang. Seeing as this is the last day, we should enjoy the time we've got left for now. So what say we head out to get some brunch?" Snow said, grinning. NORA and Serah seemed perfectly content with their newly laid out plans; Lightning, however, remained unamused. She was already anxious for night to fall—she couldn't wait to return to her original form. She'd already been locked into a bear hug and rewarded with numerous back thumps from Snow, Gadot, Yuj, and Maqui as soon as she'd entered Hope's room, and it had taken all her self-control not to hit them back. She might have, had she not remembered that she was supposed to be acting as Hope, considering that she was stuck in his body for now.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned. "Hope? You okay?" Yuj was staring at her from behind.

"Huh? Uh, yeah. I'm fine," she said. It was still taking her some time to get used to her new name.

"Well, you better get moving. Everyone else is already heading out," Yuj said, pointing ahead. Lightning blinked, realizing how distracted she'd been by her thoughts, and scurried forward, catching up with the rest of the group as Yuj followed closely behind.

* * *

The day was hectic and full of activity. Brunch had been rowdy and noisy, a walk in the park had been more or less the same, and a brief trip down to the beach gave the group a chance to dip their feet in the cold water before taking off to the mall next to the hotel. Lightning felt herself growing more and more impatient as time passed. The anticipation was driving her crazy; the wait for night to fall had been the only thing on her mind for the past few hours, and she found that any chance of actually relaxing on her so-called vacation was impossible.

She kept walking along as Gadot and Snow chattered away, Serah engaged in casual conversation with "Lightning", and Lebreau was busy laughing with Maqui and Yuj. Lightning kept walking, taking her time to look up at the late afternoon sky. The sun was starting to drop and disappear somewhere into the horizon, but it was moving at a painstakingly slow rate. She sighed. Maybe she needed something else to keep her occupied.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hope in her own body, laughing casually with Lebreau as though nothing had happened. _As if,_ she thought. For some reason, the thought of Hope laughing with the black-haired woman irked her. She hadn't the slightest idea as to why, but the feeling soon left as the group reached the glass doors granting entrance to the mall. Snow pulled the left open as the others walked in, staying in the same position for another minute or two as a friendly elder couple went through.

Lightning tilted her head up, lips parted in a small, inaudible "wow" as she looked around. The mall was large, though certainly not vacant. Incessant chattering and movement filled each turn and shop within the four-story building, and Lightning could tell it would be a while before they'd be able to go swimming again.

"Like it?" a voice said. She turned to see Snow, who was grinning as usual. "I heard it was the biggest one in Ferrasana, so I made sure that we would all get to take a walk over here sometime during the trip."

Lightning nodded silently. She wasn't particularly fond of large, crowded places, but had learned to get accustomed to it after living in Bodhum, back in Cocoon. After all, the city had been filled with tourists every day; she had no choice other than to get used to the noise. It was her hometown, after all—in fact, she'd grown somewhat fond of the memory of all the movement around the city, despite the fact that it had mostly developed from a sense of nostalgia after moving down to Gran Pulse.

"You've been kind of quiet today, Hope," Snow said. Lightning blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. Did something happen while you ran off?" Snow asked, casually ruffling his hair as he did so. Lightning shook her head, images of her earlier conversation with Hope starting to race through her mind as her chin swerved left and right.

Snow shrugged and simply gave Lightning a small clap on the back, rewarded with a grunt from the soldier as she shot a glare at him. Snow didn't seem to notice, however, as he locked his hands behind his head and sped his pace to catch up with NORA and the others. He settled in a spot next to Serah, Hope, and Lebreau, who had resumed their chat; the two started to laugh in the middle of their conversation, causing Lightning's previous strange prickle of irritation to spark once more. She was caught off guard, however, as Hope (now in her own body) turned his head by the slightest bit to catch Lightning's eye. He shot a small smile before redirecting his attention back to his conversation with his companions.

Lightning sighed. She mindlessly thumbed the silver strands of hair on the side of her head, walking along—until a pair of arms found their way over her neck.

"Hey—" she began, but was cut off as Yuj and Maqui proceeded to practically drag her to the front of the group, detaching her from her previous position in the very back.

"What's wrong, Hope? You've been sulking ever since you came back from your little exit," Yuj said.

"I'd say it's time you actually let loose and had some fun," Maqui said. The squished position that Lightning was currently caught in reminded her of how the mischievous pair had dropped numerous ice cubes down Hope's back the night before; she fought a shiver and tried to escape the two's grip, but their hold on her was much stronger compared to the last time they'd attempted to prank her in her own body, much to her puzzlement.

"Let go," she said, squirming in their grip.

"Nope," Yuj said, grinning. "Not until you start moving. C'mon, you've been so gloomy ever since this morning! What happened? You're starting to act like Lightning. Or did her death glares rub off on you?"

Lightning bit her tongue to avoid any chances of backlash, but it was no use. "What about you? You've gotten pretty soft, especially since you've been starting to spend some quality time with Lebreau," she snapped, immediately regretting the decision.

She'd expected Yuj and Maqui to be surprised at her outburst, but Maqui began to chortle as his blue-haired friend started to blush uncontrollably. "T-That's not true!" he stammered. "You know she's—oh shut it, Maqui—she's like a mom to me! Why would you even say that?"

Lightning rolled her eyes, momentarily forgetting about the double hold around the back of her neck. "Right," she said.

"If anyone likes her, it'd be Maqui," Yuj protested, immediately putting a stop to Maqui's laughter. "What?" he said, pulling away from Hope. "What are you talking about? You said so yourself, she's like a mom to us."

"Yeah, if you consider a girl who's _two years older than you_ a mom," Yuj scoffed.

"You shouldn't be talking! You and Lebreau are both twenty. And who was it that went out with Marlene last year? She was four years—" Maqui began, but was abruptly cut off as his friend clapped a hand over his mouth.

Lightning slowly started to retreat back to the main group as the pair continued to bicker, their conversation going unnoticed by the rest of NORA. She saw that Lebreau had passed the argument off without a thought, and started to wonder how dense the members of Snow's little vigilante group really were.

* * *

Serah had traveled in and out of at least twenty shops on each floor of the mall, and Maqui had taken his time to browse through a selection of tools for his various collection of trinkets back in New Bodhum. The rest of the men had no real interest for looking through the numerous articles of clothing in each store, but stopped every now and then to get a look at one particular place containing items that they'd found rather intriguing.

Lightning, to her own surprise, found that the whole trip had been interesting. She wasn't much of a shopper, but had even been dragged into a couple stores by Gadot and Serah.

"Come on, Hope! Here, try this on," Serah had said, handing her a pile of colorful shirts.

"No, Serah, I'm fine—" she began, but was interrupted as Serah kept insisting.

"Seriously, look! Aren't these cute?" the petite woman squeaked, picking out a random shirt from the pile in Lightning's arms. It was decorated with floral imprints, accented by a rather hideous shade of green. "Whoops," she said, tossing it to the side. "Not that one. Don't know what I was thinking."

"Serah…" Lightning tried to reject her sister's offer, but to no avail. She was promptly shoved into a changing room, noticing Hope's painful expression behind her sister. However, it was not one of sympathy, but rather of one trying to hold back his laugh, much to her irritation. She grudgingly shut the changing room door close, turning around to throw the pile of shirts onto the bench at her side.

"Just wait till I get my body back," she muttered under her breath, gritting her teeth. She carefully picked out a T-shirt from the pile that she'd thrown onto the bench, examining the color with caution—she sighed and proceeded to change, knowing all too well that Serah would never stop pestering her if she didn't try on at least some of the clothes.

Lightning fingered the hem of her current shirt, hesitant to advance and take it off. In truth, she hadn't changed at all during the morning; she hadn't had enough time in the midst of Snow's hurry to get down to the lobby, and had remained in her pair of shorts and white T-shirt.

_It's just a shirt,_ she thought. _Stop overreacting. You've already seen him without anything on top while you guys went swimming, haven't you?_

She bit her lip, pondering any possible consequences of switching a simple shirt—and proceeded to change, pulling off the fabric over her chest.

* * *

Serah had ended up buying a bag full of clothes for Lightning (or Hope), making her drag them along as she happily made her way out the mall. Their trip was over, and it was now already turning dark outside. Time sure flew by fast.

The moon, along with Cocoon, had come out, some of its light starting to show as Lightning and the others made their way back to the hotel. They had already enjoyed their dinner at the food court in the mall, so there was no need for that anymore.

Lightning had made sure to ask Snow if they could go swimming over at the same beach they'd gone to the previous night. And much to her relief, he'd said yes without a second thought on the matter. "Was just about to suggest it myself," he said, smiling.

And in ten minutes, they were back at the lobby.

"Okay. We'll all head back to our rooms, get changed, and meet back here. Got it?" Gadot said. Everyone murmured in agreement and split up, taking up their bags on their way back.

"Wait," Hope said, reaching for Lightning's wrist. She turned, eyebrow raised in question as he drew near.

"What's up?"

"You can't…change," Hope said.

Lightning looked at him, expression slightly contorted in confusion. "What?"

Hope shook his head, reluctant to say the actual words in order to avoid another awkward moment. He bit his lip and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Swimming suits?" he said, hoping that the vague term would bring his companion to acknowledgement of the hidden request within his words. As soon as he'd said it, Lightning gave a small sort of jump in realization of the meaning and opened his mouth to speak, only to shut it back down again as Hope gave her a look, tinged with the smallest hint of a plea.

"Just for today. We can go swimming in our clothes, can't we? I mean…" he trailed off in a meaningful manner, and Lightning nodded. She wasn't complaining—the thought of Hope seeing her body without anything on seemed no less appealing than it did to him.

After a few minutes of getting ready, they met again, in the lobby as their friends gathered round for their walk to the beach. The trip was a mere five minutes' walk away from their area. It was close—and Lightning could feel the anticipation start to build up more and more as the sound of the waves drew near. Hope could feel it too. There was an unspoken, mutual anxiety strengthening between them as each minute passed, their accompanying companions completely unaware of the growing tension as they walked.

And they were there.

* * *

"Light, aren't you wearing your swimsuit?" Lebreau asked, removing her own shirt before diving in.

Hope waved a hand casually, trying to pass the matter off before any chance of suspicion could arouse. "I have it on underneath, don't worry," he lied, feeling relief flood in as Lebreau simply shrugged and headed off towards the cool water. The glimmering waves, the sound of water lapping onto the shore...the whole scenery would have felt the same as the previous night, if only the incident the other day had not occurred. They waited on their respective towels on the smooth sand before they made sure that everyone else had already left for the water. As soon as Serah had dived in, they both nodded and got up from their seated positions.

They quickly walked over to the very edge of the water, feeling the water wash over their toes as they were slowly enveloped into the soft sand. Lightning turned to look at Hope, face almost seeming to glow under the light emitting from the moon. "You ready?"

Hope nodded.

"Let's hope this works." He silently scanned the area with his eyes. "Do you remember where it was?"

"Over there," Lightning said, and Hope could see the familiar, distant dome-shaped figure out to the left of the horizon as she pointed. They each took a deep breath. There was no telling what would happen. Going back to the assumed source of their problem would either give them a solution…or not. If not, they would have to try and figure it out on their own, left to deal with a problem they had no idea how to solve.

So they hoped for the best.

Within a matter of seconds, they had fully submerged into the water, resurfacing with a gasp and a series of shivers. The water was much colder than it had been the other day, but they would have to get used to it in order to swim back to the cave.

It seemed like forever until they stopped. Hope could feel his muscles start to give out, and wondered why it was taking so much longer than it had the other day—right as he did, though, he spotted the mouth of the cave, only a few meters away with its dark entrance looming over them as they approached it.

With a few strokes and some more pedaling, they finally reached the opening. They swam more slowly this time, passing the dark walls of the cave until they reached a familiar light. Looking up, Lightning could see the hole located at the very top, exposing the moon in all its glory.

Hope and Lightning were now treading water in the middle of the cave, right below the opening at the top. The light illuminated their faces, giving off a rather eerie glow. It was not, however, the glow that they expected to show up any time soon. They waited, afraid to utter even the smallest word in the midst of their anticipation. It was now or never. They could be switched back, or they would have to find their own way. So they waited.

Lightning hadn't even realized that she'd been holding her breath until it was released, letting out a long-awaited gasp as she looked down at the water. "Look." Hope tilted his head down to get a better view at what she was talking about, heart thumping rapidly in his chest as he did so.

Right below their feet was the smallest hint of a glow, slowly starting to spread throughout the water and up to the surface until a sudden light immediately broke through the surface. He let out a yelp as he covered his eyes, trying to block out the blinding sense as Lightning did the same.

There was the smallest amount of pain.

And then there was white.


End file.

Final Fantasy XIII, Humor, Romance